


The Punishment Deserved

by Gamma_Orionis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Azkaban, F/M, Family, Gift Fic, Romance, Tragedy, Wordcount: 500-1000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-10 01:45:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamma_Orionis/pseuds/Gamma_Orionis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucius returns from Azkaban a changed man, one who regrets the decisions he's made. Written for flyingharmony on LiveJournal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Punishment Deserved

**Author's Note:**

> A little get-well gift written for my darling Lucissa shipper, flyingharmony.

Narcissa had looked forward with such anticipation to the day that Lucius would be freed from Azkaban. She was under no delusions that things would go back to the way they had been before he had been incarcerated – she was not stupid; she knew better – but she was desperate for her husband's companionship. She wanted so to know he was safe, and to be able to hold him in her arms and feel that his heart was still beating.

But when he was finally freed, and he came home to the manor and Narcissa saw her husband again for the first time in so many months, her heart broke all over again.

She had anticipated some measure of change – she had seen, after all, what Azkaban had done to her sister. But when Narcissa saw Lucius, when she saw the way his body had become emaciated, his skin pale and papery and his beautiful hair ragged and knotted, and most of all, the way all the light had gone out of his eyes, leaving them hollow and dark as a dead man's, all she could do was cry.

"Narcissa…" His voice cracked and he reached out for her, and she flung herself into his arms and sobbed.

"Are you all right? Is Draco all right?" Lucius asked her, and Narcissa nodded, but  _no_ , neither of them was  _all right_ , and he was not all right either.

"There, there, Cissy…" He was so clearly trying to sound pleasant, but he sounded desperate and hopeless to her. She clung to him and shook her head, and for a long time, they stood in the foyer in each others' arms in perfect silence. Narcissa rested her head on Lucius's shoulder, and her tears stained his robes. She could feel him shivering under her touch – he had never shivered like that before.

"I've missed you. I've missed you." His voice was rough in her ear, different from the voice she remembered – Lucius in her mind sounded smooth and calm and _not like this_.

"I've missed you too." Narcissa lifted her head and looked up at him, still while she clung to him in desperation. "Lucius… oh, Lucius, I begged the Dark Lord – but he said that you should stay in prison – that it was the punishment you deserved –"

"I did deserve it." Lucius's voice was bitter and he turned away from Narcissa. She let out a small cry and clutched at him.

"No, Lucius! Never- you never deserved such a thing! Azkaban is a terrible place, and you did nothing wrong – you did as well as anyone could have expected you to, and if the Dark Lord did not appreciate that, it is not your fault–"

"You misunderstand me, Narcissa." Lucius touched her cheek, and his eyes were so haunted and sad that all Narcissa wanted in the world was to hold him close and comfort him like a child.  _Poor thing_. She hated to see her husband like that when she had so many memories of the man he had once been: strong and brave and self-assured.

"What do I misunderstand?" she asked quietly.

"I deserved the punishment," he repeated in a hollow, quiet voice, "not for failing the Dark Lord, but for ever allowing myself to become involved with him. I failed you and Draco more than I ever could have failed the Dark Lord."

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
